The Elf Thief

Chapter 5: Hunting the Hunter

Chapter 5

Hunting the Hunter

“Wow, our little Sonya, all grown up in the ladies camp!” Cormack joked, as he walked into her tent. He obviously had a particularly good reason to be there, seeing how he and Jiner survived this deep in the part of the woman’s camp. “What is this, Sonya? Your beauty station?” Jiner asked as he poked at her small mirror, and lotions.

All she could do was smirk and pull out her knife. “As a matter of fact, it is. I was thinking of giving my self a hair cut,” she looked both them over for a moment, “And I think, you boys could use one too!” With that she began to advance on them, knife glinting in the light that seeping into the tent.

“Ahhhh! No! No haircut, Sonya! Please, no haircut!” they screamed and clutched their hair as they ran out of the tent wailing something about haircuts being the source of all evil.

Sonya chuckled and continued her work for a few minutes until another invader entered her tent.

“Why hello, Tatiana,” Sonya spoke when she saw her friend enter the tent. “What brings you here?”

Tatiana snorted. “The boys were going to give you a message, but you seemed to have scared them away,” she explained. “Something about you brutally assaulting their hair with your, I quote, ‘deadly dagger of shame.’” She raised her eyebrow in a questioning look.

“Hey!” Sonya defended herself, “They had it coming!”

Tatiana couldn’t help but smile at that. It was true; those boys had caused so much trouble that almost nothing could be considered, ‘to harsh’ a punishment for them. “Yeah well, whatever. The message was that you are to take part in the ambush.”

Sonya bit her lower lip, dying to ask the question, but wondering if it was a wise choice.

Tatiana however, saw her friend’s inner struggle, and held back a giggle. “Yes, Molko will be coming too,” she answered the unasked question, trying to keep her face stoic as the bright red blush seeped across Sonya’s face.

Sonya opened her mouth in protest, but before any sounds could come out, Tatiana reached out and grabbed her wrist.

“Oh, shut up, Sonya,” she snickered, and dragged her protesting friend out the tent door.

Sonya broke free as they entered the briefing grounds.

“Oh what are you so afraid about?” Tatiana couldn’t help but chuckle. “He’s as blind as a newborn rabbit. He wouldn’t know you liked him if you climbed a mountain and shouted it across all of Zauluke!”

Sonya’s blush deepened. “Well he has to be catching on, and if not, that is just fine with me,” she stated. “Having people pry into my personal life is not something I need or want.” She nudged her friend in a teasing manner. “You’re bad enough by yourself!”

“Sonya!” a voice called her name over the crowd. She turned from her friend, only to see Cormack, Jiner, and Molko walking up to her. Suddenly, Jiner stopped in his footsteps. Leaning over to Cormack, he said, “Do you think that she still has the deadly dagger of shame?”

Cormack paused and looked her over. “I don’t think she’ll try anything out in the open,” he replied, his voice low and serious, “but be ready to run, just in case.”

Sonya let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes as Tatiana and Molko doubled over laughing.

Cormack turned to her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “So,” he started, “you have any idea what we are doing here?”